3D-Printed Microneedles for Continuous Glucose Monitoring

3D-Printed Microneedles for Continuous Glucose Monitoring

by Medical

For many of the 422 million people around the world living with diabetes, glucose monitoring is a necessary, and uncomfortable, daily chore requiring a painful pinprick to test the blood. Newer technologies, like the FreeStyle Libre, offer continuous monitoring, but the system still requires that a 5mm rigid metallic needle be driven into the skin. While not as bothersome as the fingertip lance, it’s still uncomfortable for the patient. Aiming to develop a solution that’s more comfortable for the user, the AIT – Austrian Institute of Technology – partnered with DirectSens and In-Vision to launch the NUMBAT research project. NUMBAT aims at leveraging high-resolution DLP 3D printing to create an array of polymeric microneedles for minimally invasive—and less painful—continuous glucose monitoring (CGM).

Micro 3D Printed Needles and The Market for μ-Resolution 3D Printing

by Medical

Last month, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering and the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine demonstrated a 3D printed microneedle array platform capable of delivering vaccines directly into the skin, with the particular goal of improving COVID-19 vaccine delivery in the developing world. The study was conducted using micro-stereolithography PμSL 3D printing technology developed by Boston Micro Fabrication and is the latest effort in a race to the most precise 3D prints to produce objects used in our macroscopic world.